France will remain in Mali until his stabilisation

BAMAKO/DUBAI (Reuters) - France completed its military intervention in Mali once stabilized the country and the electoral process implemented Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, opening the prospect of a costly and prolonged against the rebels islamistes.

the fifth day of the French intervention, Paris continued to deploy its forces and continued air strikes on the ground waiting for the deployment of a West African force, which should take a "good week", according to the head of State .

Chiefs of Staff of the countries of the Economic Community of the States of West Africa (ECOWAS) met Tuesday in Bamako to approve the accelerated schedule required by the French intervention. However, they are not able to agree and meeting was adjourned at mercredi.

This

West African force, approved by the Security Council of the UN on December 20 under the name Misma - International Mission Support Mali - should not be fully operational until September, but the sudden increase of the rebels to the Malian capital has led the countries of the region to accelerate their préparatifs.

Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Guinea have all promised to contribute to the Misma. Colonel Mohammed Yerima, spokesman for the Nigerian Ministry of Defense, said first 190 Nigerian troops would be deployed in Mali 24 heures.

DIABALI CONTROLLED REBELLE

Given the urgency, France since Friday comes the call of the Malian authorities in its former colony to block the progression of Islamists bomb their facilities in northern Mali, which rebels took control in the spring of 2012 advantage of the power vacuum created by a military coup in Bamako.

Stressing that "France is not intended to stay in Mali," Hollande said during a visit to the United Arab Emirates: "We have a goal, however, is to ensure that when we leave, there is security in Mali, legitimate authorities, the electoral process and (there are) more terrorists that threaten the integrity of Mali. "

Accompanying

François Hollande in Abu Dhabi, the Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, said the offensive against the Islamist rebels could take time and commitment of French forces take several weeks. The elections in Mali, where President Dioncounda Traoré is responsible for the transition under an agreement signed in May, is expected to take several mois.

France has already deployed some 800 soldiers on Malian soil and should raise the number to 2,500, according to the Ministry of Defence. African troops must rise to end 3300 hommes.

The rebels, French officials describe as mobile, heavily armed and determined, have shown their ability to respond Monday dislodging forces Malian Diabali locality, 350 km north of Bamako.

The city was still under the control of the Islamists Tuesday despite several raids, residents said. A witness attached near Segou, further south, told Reuters he saw twenty members of the French special forces en route to Diabali.

In addition, the city Konna, strategic bolt on the road to Mopti whose collapse triggered the French intervention, has not yet been adopted by the Malian army jihadists, Paris told the Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian.

A French armored column left Bamako on Tuesday and took the direction of the north of Mali, it was learned French military source. Admiral Edouard Guillaud, Chief of Staff of the French forces, had said earlier that light armor type Sagaie, routed Ivory Coast and Chad could be involved "if necessary" against jihadists .

In the capital, the population is mostly welcomed the French intervention, after seeing his army through a series of setbacks to face insurgés.

SUPPORT LOGISTIQUE

France, which has officially abandoned its role as a "gendarme of Africa", emphasizes the international support operation "Serval" .

the Emirates, Laurent Fabius said the campaign had the support of the Gulf countries and Belgium announced in Mali sending two aircraft C130 and two medical helicopters at the request of Paris.

The French government has also stated that the United States, Canada, Denmark and Germany had promised to support logistique.

"We support the French in sharing information and we think to requests for logistical support," Jay Carney said Tuesday, a spokesman for House blanche.

In private, U.S. officials fear a coordination between jihadists active in Africa, AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), the Mujao (Movement for the uniqueness and Jihad in West Africa) and Ansar Dine North -Mali, Boko Haram in Nigeria or in Somalie.

ShabaabThe

Shabaab, which have failed over the weekend in an operation of the DGSE to release a French hostage, have appealed to the uprising of Muslims against what they present as attacks "Christian" against Islam .< / p>

Eight French hostages held in the Sahel and 30,000 French expatriates settled in the country voisins.

France reinforced its Vigipirate at "red", without going to enable the highest level "scarlet" in case of imminent attack. "This is not encouraging terrorism to fight terrorism", but felt Laurent Fabius Abu Dhabi.

A donor conference is scheduled to meet in late January on the sidelines of a summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa to support African efforts against various Islamist rebel groups linked to Al Qaeda, he dit.

According to the UN, some 30,000 Malians fled recent fighting and are joining the ranks of the 200,000 that had already moved their pays.

Serisier Pierre Bertrand Boucey, Jean-Stéphane Brosse, Gerard Bon and Jean-Philippe Lefief for service français